The EU is bringing in new rules on when patent licensing and other technology-transfer agreements should and should not be allowed by competition law:
http://www.bi.les-europe.org/news/93.html#8
- "Important changes have been proposed to the laws relating to technology licensing agreements. Essentially, and in line with other areas such as agency and distribution, the new law will concentrate on the actual effect of the agreement entered into, rather than its form. Economic concepts such as market share tests will become relevant, with all the difficulties these will entail. This means that while the law should be more effective in catching anti-competitive agreements, assessing whether the law is complied with will be more difficult".
